GDS high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:And it’s all the truth. Believe every bit of it.

Yeah, it's so "true" that no one in this thread can name the specific contrary opinions that are supposedly being reported to the DEI office.

There was one just a few weeks ago. A long standing teacher reading a very famous author who wrote some charged words in his work. Boom. Teacher turned into DEI office by the form submitted anonymously by a hs student. Forced to ritually self immolate

He read the passage out loud in a book the academic department had assigned. Yes the passage contained a word that is considered deeply offensive in 2024. The teacher even warned the class before he read it.

And yet, teacher was reported. The administrative state began its investigation. Called the teacher in. An apology was forced to be sent in writing to the entire class by the teacher. That apology was sent around the school.

This happens frequently. God forbid you say “slave” in a class about slavery instead of “enslaved person”. You know the form will be used. And the kid who said slave in proper historic context will be called in.

To be clear, there are a very small number of kids who do this. But they are around. And everyone knows them. And the entire DEI apparatus at the school serves to empower these 1-2 kids per classroom

This is horrifying, if true.
I am a professor who is considering applying DC to GDS, and I will ask about this. This twisted McCarthyism hinders the development of intellectually competent college students. Why is GDS encouraging students to be so fragile? If GDS DEI seriously believes that teaching literature that contains uncomfortable words and ideas is "harmful" and "traumatic," the school needs to contemplate what its educational purpose actually is.
I both pity and loathe students who come to college thinking that "justice" means refusing to be exposed to history.
What is the educational background and training of the DEI staff?

Why are you horrified? Many colleges are similar. In fact the DEI craziness started at the college level.

I am appalled by what is happening on college campuses for sure. The big difference is that college faculty, especially tenured faculty, have protections and in no way would have to send out letters of apology for pedagogy that is appropriate for course content. If the teacher in question at GDS is a long-time teacher, supposedly GDS kept this person because of good teaching. The fact that the GDS DEI office is allowing a 16-year old to dictate what is appropriate or not over a veteran teacher and then forces a performative apology from that teacher displays questionable priorities at GDS.

Point taken. How old is your child anyway? Unless you are rolling in money I would not bother applying for kindergarten. The true strength of GDS is its high school. You can do elementary school anywhere, even public. And the DEI insanity is easier to stomach if you have to deal with it only for a few years. K-12 becomes too much time at GDS in so many ways. You can thank me later

Sounds like four years would be too long. And if this treatment is what you call a strength, then what’s happening in the lower grades?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And it’s all the truth. Believe every bit of it.

Yeah, it's so "true" that no one in this thread can name the specific contrary opinions that are supposedly being reported to the DEI office.

There was one just a few weeks ago. A long standing teacher reading a very famous author who wrote some charged words in his work. Boom. Teacher turned into DEI office by the form submitted anonymously by a hs student. Forced to ritually self immolate

He read the passage out loud in a book the academic department had assigned. Yes the passage contained a word that is considered deeply offensive in 2024. The teacher even warned the class before he read it.

And yet, teacher was reported. The administrative state began its investigation. Called the teacher in. An apology was forced to be sent in writing to the entire class by the teacher. That apology was sent around the school.

This happens frequently. God forbid you say “slave” in a class about slavery instead of “enslaved person”. You know the form will be used. And the kid who said slave in proper historic context will be called in.

To be clear, there are a very small number of kids who do this. But they are around. And everyone knows them. And the entire DEI apparatus at the school serves to empower these 1-2 kids per classroom

Was the student censoring "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" or "To Kill a Mockingbird"? Will they be banning those books now?

Think it might have been 'Song of Solomon". I honestly think kids at that age often have a level of righteous indignation and are in the process of learning to advocate, yet haven't learned to pick their battles yet. Learning how and when to speak up is a skill that high school students are still mastering. I like that GDS helps students find their voice and situations like this are a learning experience for everyone.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The administration in general is the weak spot of GDS. With the lower school principal turnover and the high school principal's lack of experience it has been frustrating.

GDS' strengths are definitely the teachers but most programs run by the administration, especially in the high school, are lacking (DEI, college counseling, disciplinary). As a parent of a high school student many of the programs are great in theory but we find them lacking with very little accountability or transparency.

We have had several interactions and meetings with the HS principal and found her inexperienced and lacking empathy or interest.

Similar here. Our interactions with HS principal have been the same. The people who report to her in administration - curriculum people, display people and CCO - seem entirely not empowered to make decisions and openly defer to her while grin f’ing the parent.

And yet she’s hard to reach and generally has been slow to respond on the few occasions we’ve escalated something unless we’ve basically gone 911 on our email over a serious school f-up. There was a really bad one a few years ago. And then I’ve had an immediate response from her.

Have heard from my kid that many faculty members despise her and speak openly about how bad a leader and decision maker she is. Maybe this is normal. Maybe not. I hear a lot of it though.

On the disciplinary committee front, have heard from other parents that every decision made - even for minor *entirely* non DEI infractions - are dominated with a DEI restorative justice lens as how the kid needs to make amends. It’s very much on brand for the former head of DEI at dalton. One can google how that went at Dalton…

This too shall pass - but probably not in time for our kid’s tenure at the school. Like many 2020 and 2021 decisions, boards are seeing the reality of bad hires slowly. GDS’ board will be late to seeing this but will eventually. Pretty much can count on this.

I have no skin in this game and am honestly not trying to stir up drama by asking, but if you had to guess, is there a chance she's not going to last very long in the role?

I find it troubling that the administration has had so much turnover in the last decade. That indicates larger problems.

This unfortunate dei restorative justice disciplinary style is also very much in the middle school so I'm not sure it's specific to the high school principal. The administration doesn't seem to realize that they are creating unnecessary tension among the students through this uneven and unfair practice.

My MSer has experienced zero tension or stress. Maybe your kid shouldn't get in trouble so much?

Goodness. People on this board are ruthless. I hope your child never makes a mistake.

I'm a GDS parent with a student in the high school. An A student, never in trouble in the 10 years we've been at GDS, and very active in the school. My high schooler made a poor judgement call but did not harm anyone and learned their lesson very quickly. The administration and principal decided it required disciplinary action and prioritized restorative justice disciplinary policies to an extreme including a hearing amongst student peers to determine consequences, several essays, lessons plans on what lessons were learned, apology letters and other restorative actions along with the threat of suspension and reporting to colleges. Parents are only informed of the results but are not allowed to be a part of the process. There is also no opportunity to appeal. This dragged on for weeks and when we finally had the opportunity to discuss with the HS principal she informed us she wasn't privy to the details and passed us back to another individual in the high school to get more information. We love GDS but because we've never been a part of the disciplinary process we were shocked on how this was handled and we fault the administration but mainly the principal as this is under her purview. At our child's request, we didn't push our situation further out of fear of risking what could be reported to colleges.

Would you have preferred jumping straight to suspension? That's the point of restorative justice -- give the offender a chance to learn something and make amends, instead of jumping to punishment.

Sounds like the preference would have been to talk with the HS principal up front to convince her that no punishment is warranted because child is an A student, has never been in trouble in the prior 10 years at GDS, no one was harmed, lesson was learned quickly, and it was just poor judgment, and if the HS principal didn't agree, they would appeal to the HOS.

I'm the previous poster re: the disciplinary action of our GDS high schooler. It's hard to explain the entire situation while remaining anonymous and brief on a message board. I think the point is the focus was so much on implementing restorative justice while not actually addressing the issue and looking at the student. And that the HS principal oversees these policies but when requested to meet with us to discuss she absolved herself from any responsibility and in all honest was not interested in talking with us. We are also very well aware, like other posters have mentioned, there's no consistency. Some students receive disciplinary action while others do not for similar or worse actions.

We had a similar experience here last year. No one in administration seems to take ownership. We met w/ her and the HS principal says it's not hers to own and she knows no details. The grade dean says its not his or hers to own. The advisors know nothing. So no one knows anything yet our kid is somehow magically at the committee.

At some point last year, for something very minor (not drugs, violence, language) our kid did, I became *that* parent and called every senior administrator until i figured out who owns the process and could tell us what had happened . Even that liar seemed to deny they knew anything until I would not let up until they read me everything in the files.

I've got to say having gone through this last year, the lack of transparency as to how the school runs this process, and to who truly owns it was shocking. This person kept saying "the students run the process" - that's false. My kid knows many of the kids on the discipline committee. The students all say that 2 or 3 administrators run the whole thing and in fact those admins recommend the punishments and often overrule the kids who think nothing should be done for minor things to their peers.

It's a classic GDS farce. They create some process. Claim a moral high-ground and lack of knowlege and then hide behind that process. Are then totally opaque about how it REALLY works. And then leave the kids wondering for WEEKS as to their fate. When *all along* the administrators were the ones deciding the punishment and what even goes to committee in the first place. Meanwhile, they all deny that they are involved, To a one, every single person until that last guy i got hold of after i went postal bc no one was replying to my kid, finally admitted that they in fact run the process and have all the info.

Here's what I think actually happens - the grade deans and this administrator and the HS principal actually decide what comes to the committee and they have pre-planned the punishments. The whole farce of peers questioning and voting is classic GDS thing to make everyone feel included. Also the grade deans and HS principal all deny they are in the know so they dont get non stop calls from parents and kids.

I've been at this school so long as a parnet of multiple kids that I know before the callbacks now the grinf*cks and the glad handing the admins will give me, The nice nice act they wil put on and then deliver bad news via an email later. I know all of their moves, I feel bad for them all since it must suck having those jobs and feeling like a low paid cog in the GDS machine

The teachers are mostly good to amazing. The administrators are mostly horrific. In fact, we had one kid at another DC Big 3 and it was FAR better there than at GDS in terms of transparency. something about adhering to the GDS kindness thing makes all of these admins act like neutered noobs. I often want to scream - tell me the f-in truth. BTW same exact thing in college process where they are opaque about list building, no access to SCOIR or Naviance even though they have it and wont even show kids o parents. Lies about AP testing and SAT/ACT.

I wanted to scream like many other parenrs - tell my kid the g-d truth that 35 kids are applying to U-M or USC this year and they wont make the cut. Instead it was all in code words like "if it's in your heart to apply, then you should" - jesus christ, just tell me how i stack up. Plus they limiit to 10 or 12 college apps total so WTAF? Each slot is critical, tell us upfront.

I'm glad we are almost done here and I so badly wish we had sent all our kids to cathedral schools.

This is so bizarre. I understand why you can’t say what was done, but I’m so curious what type of incident warrants all that work, honestly. I can’t imagine that it’s cheating related as that doesn’t seem like it should go through peers. But in thinking about this, nothing should go through peers. What about your kids privacy? What is going to stop the student panel from telling others about this and then potential bullying occur? Also, what type of students sign up to be on this panel. Why would you want to punish your peers? Did parents have a say in this policy?

GDS parent here and it is a horrible disciplinary process that was implemented a few years ago but really activated by the current principal.You can read about it in an article in the GDS student paper https://theaugurbit.com/2023/11/13/inside-the-dcc-the-committee-that-makes-disciplinary-recommendations/

The process is intimidating and lacks transparency. You can be sent to the DCC for the smallest infraction to obviously larger ones. A report is written about the incident and provided to the student panel and grade deans overseeing the hearing. The student going in front of the student panel or parents are not allowed to see any documentation - even for accuracy. Parents are not allowed in the hearing and following the hearing the student panel recommends the disciplinary action and then it goes to the GDS principal.

Another GDS parent here. I just asked my kid to ask their friends who have experienced the disciplinary process and they confirmed all of this and the article is true.

Holy smokes this is a terrible process. The kids don’t even know what they are being accused of when they go in front of the committee? Wow.

This seems like something that deserves a letter to the board. This is actually shocking.

For everything this school says it believes about the justice system, this is actually how they handle it internally? What utter hypocrisy!!

Yikes. That’s just as bad as the zany IMF Tribunals which no one bullied or harassed or discriminated against wants to do either. Bad for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talked to my GDS high schooler about what I saw in this thread.

Their summary -

The HS principal and her top couple of admins are atrocious. Aloof, not present at many student events, “always traveling to conferences” according to a teacher. The prior HS head was much better on this front. What happened to her BTW?

yes, DEI still is involved the student disciplinary process (including for non DEI discipline issues). The entire framing of discipline actions is around DEI framework. Even for things that have nothing to do w DEI.

Yes, most assemblies are now DEI (down from 100 percent last two years. Now maybe 75 percent). Progress!!!

Yes, many students and teachers are guarded in classroom discussions around political events or historic events for fear of saying something that will be turned into DEI office on an anonymous form

The DEI office is very exclusionary. They do zero to support Jewish, Indian, Asian kids. Until this year no events etc. now a bare few. Even the office itself which is a defacto hang out for 10-15 kids between classes and gives off an unwelcome vibe for non black kids who want to go ask a question in there of the admin.

And finally, the vast majority of kids my kid knows hate this performative stupidity. It’s GDS after all. You aren’t here unless you buy into the mission. It will never be Gt Prep. But for god sake, the admin and school have shoved this so far down kid throats.

This sounds horrible!!!! Why would anyone subject their kids to this??

Sounds like communist China. If you speak against your mind, and it’s against the current DEI talking points, you can be reported to the DEI office for discipline? Its kinda like the re-education comps go Communist Russia China.

I don’t care how good the education or reputation is. But if they keep hiring horrible admins and teachers, you gotta think their rankings will drop and smart student would chose to go elsewhere.

Again, why would send your kid to place like this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does GDS have racial justice learning centers for white students/families like Holton?

Instead of this how about same Low SES learning centers for all black, white and brown students/families?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Talked to my GDS high schooler about what I saw in this thread.

Their summary -

The HS principal and her top couple of admins are atrocious. Aloof, not present at many student events, “always traveling to conferences” according to a teacher. The prior HS head was much better on this front. What happened to her BTW?

yes, DEI still is involved the student disciplinary process (including for non DEI discipline issues). The entire framing of discipline actions is around DEI framework. Even for things that have nothing to do w DEI.

Yes, most assemblies are now DEI (down from 100 percent last two years. Now maybe 75 percent). Progress!!!

Yes, many students and teachers are guarded in classroom discussions around political events or historic events for fear of saying something that will be turned into DEI office on an anonymous form

The DEI office is very exclusionary. They do zero to support Jewish, Indian, Asian kids. Until this year no events etc. now a bare few. Even the office itself which is a defacto hang out for 10-15 kids between classes and gives off an unwelcome vibe for non black kids who want to go ask a question in there of the admin.

And finally, the vast majority of kids my kid knows hate this performative stupidity. It’s GDS after all. You aren’t here unless you buy into the mission. It will never be Gt Prep. But for god sake, the admin and school have shoved this so far down kid throats.

Many are there for the name, not the mission. And what is the mission nowadays? Wasn’t part of the reason the school was founded to have a private school where Jews were welcome? How far has the school strayed from its mission?

We like the convenient location

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does any other GDS parent remember the very obvious DEI hire to teach chemistry 2 years ago at HS level? The teacher was so wholly unqualified to teach the subject matter that they had to let him go mid-way through the year.

I'm genuinely not picking on this but it was yet another self-inflicted wound. At least they fixed it - though it took nearly full school year to counsel the guy out.

Sounds like the new undertrained, unqualified Boeing jet assembly team of hires

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had one child who graduated in 2020 (was there 9-12, 2016-20). Faculty was great for him. Admin was HORRIBLE in so many ways you don't want to get me started. I did not have my twins even apply to GDS, two years after the eldest went.

Where did you apply for younger children?

My younger children went to Garrison Forest ( girls, Owings mills, Md) and st Andrews -Delaware. Both boarded and had fantastic high school experiences ( and better college counseling!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And it’s all the truth. Believe every bit of it.

Yeah, it's so "true" that no one in this thread can name the specific contrary opinions that are supposedly being reported to the DEI office.

There was one just a few weeks ago. A long standing teacher reading a very famous author who wrote some charged words in his work. Boom. Teacher turned into DEI office by the form submitted anonymously by a hs student. Forced to ritually self immolate

He read the passage out loud in a book the academic department had assigned. Yes the passage contained a word that is considered deeply offensive in 2024. The teacher even warned the class before he read it.

And yet, teacher was reported. The administrative state began its investigation. Called the teacher in. An apology was forced to be sent in writing to the entire class by the teacher. That apology was sent around the school.

This happens frequently. God forbid you say “slave” in a class about slavery instead of “enslaved person”. You know the form will be used. And the kid who said slave in proper historic context will be called in.

To be clear, there are a very small number of kids who do this. But they are around. And everyone knows them. And the entire DEI apparatus at the school serves to empower these 1-2 kids per classroom

Was the student censoring "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" or "To Kill a Mockingbird"? Will they be banning those books now?

Think it might have been 'Song of Solomon". I honestly think kids at that age often have a level of righteous indignation and are in the process of learning to advocate, yet haven't learned to pick their battles yet. Learning how and when to speak up is a skill that high school students are still mastering. I like that GDS helps students find their voice and situations like this are a learning experience for everyone.

Interesting that some are learning to speak up using an anonymous form and others are learning to keep their mouths shut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And it’s all the truth. Believe every bit of it.

Yeah, it's so "true" that no one in this thread can name the specific contrary opinions that are supposedly being reported to the DEI office.

There was one just a few weeks ago. A long standing teacher reading a very famous author who wrote some charged words in his work. Boom. Teacher turned into DEI office by the form submitted anonymously by a hs student. Forced to ritually self immolate

He read the passage out loud in a book the academic department had assigned. Yes the passage contained a word that is considered deeply offensive in 2024. The teacher even warned the class before he read it.

And yet, teacher was reported. The administrative state began its investigation. Called the teacher in. An apology was forced to be sent in writing to the entire class by the teacher. That apology was sent around the school.

This happens frequently. God forbid you say “slave” in a class about slavery instead of “enslaved person”. You know the form will be used. And the kid who said slave in proper historic context will be called in.

To be clear, there are a very small number of kids who do this. But they are around. And everyone knows them. And the entire DEI apparatus at the school serves to empower these 1-2 kids per classroom

Was the student censoring "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" or "To Kill a Mockingbird"? Will they be banning those books now?

Think it might have been 'Song of Solomon". I honestly think kids at that age often have a level of righteous indignation and are in the process of learning to advocate, yet haven't learned to pick their battles yet. Learning how and when to speak up is a skill that high school students are still mastering. I like that GDS helps students find their voice and situations like this are a learning experience for everyone.

A Toni Morrison book got a DEI warning and the teacher had to immolate themselves in front of their students? That doesn't seem like a positive learning experience for anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And it’s all the truth. Believe every bit of it.

Yeah, it's so "true" that no one in this thread can name the specific contrary opinions that are supposedly being reported to the DEI office.

There was one just a few weeks ago. A long standing teacher reading a very famous author who wrote some charged words in his work. Boom. Teacher turned into DEI office by the form submitted anonymously by a hs student. Forced to ritually self immolate

He read the passage out loud in a book the academic department had assigned. Yes the passage contained a word that is considered deeply offensive in 2024. The teacher even warned the class before he read it.

And yet, teacher was reported. The administrative state began its investigation. Called the teacher in. An apology was forced to be sent in writing to the entire class by the teacher. That apology was sent around the school.

This happens frequently. God forbid you say “slave” in a class about slavery instead of “enslaved person”. You know the form will be used. And the kid who said slave in proper historic context will be called in.

To be clear, there are a very small number of kids who do this. But they are around. And everyone knows them. And the entire DEI apparatus at the school serves to empower these 1-2 kids per classroom

Was the student censoring "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" or "To Kill a Mockingbird"? Will they be banning those books now?

Think it might have been 'Song of Solomon". I honestly think kids at that age often have a level of righteous indignation and are in the process of learning to advocate, yet haven't learned to pick their battles yet. Learning how and when to speak up is a skill that high school students are still mastering. I like that GDS helps students find their voice and situations like this are a learning experience for everyone.

A Toni Morrison book got a DEI warning and the teacher had to immolate themselves in front of their students? That doesn't seem like a positive learning experience for anyone.

Can confirm this was the book in question

I can’t tell who is most at fault here - administration for allowing this anonymous reporting tool or fragile kids? Both?

Imagine when these kids are in the real world. I don’t mean Wesleyan or Bates or Bowdoin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And it’s all the truth. Believe every bit of it.

Yeah, it's so "true" that no one in this thread can name the specific contrary opinions that are supposedly being reported to the DEI office.

There was one just a few weeks ago. A long standing teacher reading a very famous author who wrote some charged words in his work. Boom. Teacher turned into DEI office by the form submitted anonymously by a hs student. Forced to ritually self immolate

He read the passage out loud in a book the academic department had assigned. Yes the passage contained a word that is considered deeply offensive in 2024. The teacher even warned the class before he read it.

And yet, teacher was reported. The administrative state began its investigation. Called the teacher in. An apology was forced to be sent in writing to the entire class by the teacher. That apology was sent around the school.

This happens frequently. God forbid you say “slave” in a class about slavery instead of “enslaved person”. You know the form will be used. And the kid who said slave in proper historic context will be called in.

To be clear, there are a very small number of kids who do this. But they are around. And everyone knows them. And the entire DEI apparatus at the school serves to empower these 1-2 kids per classroom

Was the student censoring "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" or "To Kill a Mockingbird"? Will they be banning those books now?

Think it might have been 'Song of Solomon". I honestly think kids at that age often have a level of righteous indignation and are in the process of learning to advocate, yet haven't learned to pick their battles yet. Learning how and when to speak up is a skill that high school students are still mastering. I like that GDS helps students find their voice and situations like this are a learning experience for everyone.

Interesting that some are learning to speak up using an anonymous form and others are learning to keep their mouths shut.

Excellent point. Many are being shut up by this stupidity and others are being empowered to “speak up” by using a google form to report supposed violations to DEI brain trust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Talked to my GDS high schooler about what I saw in this thread.

Their summary -

The HS principal and her top couple of admins are atrocious. Aloof, not present at many student events, “always traveling to conferences” according to a teacher. The prior HS head was much better on this front. What happened to her BTW?

yes, DEI still is involved the student disciplinary process (including for non DEI discipline issues). The entire framing of discipline actions is around DEI framework. Even for things that have nothing to do w DEI.

Yes, most assemblies are now DEI (down from 100 percent last two years. Now maybe 75 percent). Progress!!!

Yes, many students and teachers are guarded in classroom discussions around political events or historic events for fear of saying something that will be turned into DEI office on an anonymous form

The DEI office is very exclusionary. They do zero to support Jewish, Indian, Asian kids. Until this year no events etc. now a bare few. Even the office itself which is a defacto hang out for 10-15 kids between classes and gives off an unwelcome vibe for non black kids who want to go ask a question in there of the admin.

And finally, the vast majority of kids my kid knows hate this performative stupidity. It’s GDS after all. You aren’t here unless you buy into the mission. It will never be Gt Prep. But for god sake, the admin and school have shoved this so far down kid throats.

Many are there for the name, not the mission. And what is the mission nowadays? Wasn’t part of the reason the school was founded to have a private school where Jews were welcome? How far has the school strayed from its mission?

We like the convenient location

Agreed. It is an excellent location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does any other GDS parent remember the very obvious DEI hire to teach chemistry 2 years ago at HS level? The teacher was so wholly unqualified to teach the subject matter that they had to let him go mid-way through the year.

I'm genuinely not picking on this but it was yet another self-inflicted wound. At least they fixed it - though it took nearly full school year to counsel the guy out.

Wasn’t that the physics teacher not chemistry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talked to my GDS high schooler about what I saw in this thread.

Their summary -

The HS principal and her top couple of admins are atrocious. Aloof, not present at many student events, “always traveling to conferences” according to a teacher. The prior HS head was much better on this front. What happened to her BTW?

yes, DEI still is involved the student disciplinary process (including for non DEI discipline issues). The entire framing of discipline actions is around DEI framework. Even for things that have nothing to do w DEI.

Yes, most assemblies are now DEI (down from 100 percent last two years. Now maybe 75 percent). Progress!!!

Yes, many students and teachers are guarded in classroom discussions around political events or historic events for fear of saying something that will be turned into DEI office on an anonymous form

The DEI office is very exclusionary. They do zero to support Jewish, Indian, Asian kids. Until this year no events etc. now a bare few. Even the office itself which is a defacto hang out for 10-15 kids between classes and gives off an unwelcome vibe for non black kids who want to go ask a question in there of the admin.

And finally, the vast majority of kids my kid knows hate this performative stupidity. It’s GDS after all. You aren’t here unless you buy into the mission. It will never be Gt Prep. But for god sake, the admin and school have shoved this so far down kid throats.

DEI despite its name is meant to be somewhat exclusionary, isn’t it? White folk are supposed to keep a low profile and let oppressed groups take center stage. Isn’t that the whole point? It is not supposed to be kumbaya, we love everybody and everyone.